Fighting pride

3 reasons to give grace.

September 29, 2014 by fabsharford 3 Comments

I recently did an interview for a girl who is considering going into ministry. One of the questions she asked me was what do you wish you’d known about working for a church? And the answer that came to mind was: I’d wish I’d known that coming on staff has a way of making some peoples’ grace dissolve.

I think back to the girl I was when I first started in full time ministry. Mid-20’s. Eager and arrogant. Absolutely oblivious to the ways that her personality, mistakes, weaknesses and sins were going to hurt people. Oblivious to the punches she was going to take because of her personality, mistakes, weaknesses and sins.

Car stereos and gifted people

June 9, 2014 by fabsharford 6 Comments

Here’s how I’ve spent a lot of time this week: thanking God in my car.

I like time in my car. Mostly because my introvert self can curl up inside my music and crawl inside the worlds in my mind.

The music menu usually consists of musicals (the good ones), music that falls within my self-titled ‘Dawson’s genre’, and/or country. The two recent exceptions have been: (a) when I have a toddler in tow or (b) when a friend releases a new album.

This week my car time has been cannibalized by the latter. I’ve been listening to my buddy Jimmy’s new record and it has me thanking God for two reasons:

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Filed Under: Fighting pride, most popular thoughts

6 weapons to kill pride

May 23, 2013 by fabsharford 4 Comments

Sneaky pride.

It messes everything up.

Pride is behind the anxiety I feel when I prepare to teach. It urges me to meditate on how much I have to lose or gain. Pride nudges me to plan more than I pray. Pride prompts me to flinch in shame when someone talks about sin that hits a little too close to home.

Pride, whether it wears the mask of boasting or of self-deprecation, is constantly beckoning my heart to pull up a chair and watch a story-of-me unfold.

Pride is a soul set on self.

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Filed Under: Fighting insecurity, Fighting pride

A response

January 25, 2013 by fabsharford 5 Comments

I think it’s important to read people who are smart and gifted and think differently from you. And that’s why I read Rachel Held Evans blog.

Her last post was tough.

She described people who believe in God’s absolute sovereignty as cold & unfeeling and hate any kind of doubt or questioning.

Ugh.

I’m not scared of doubt. It does not define me and it does not anger or threaten my God.

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Filed Under: Fighting pride, Ministry

Two dangerous responses to rules

December 6, 2012 by fabsharford 1 Comment

You’ve heard it a million times, but Christian, stop and consider: we are under grace, not the law.

We have a hard time figuring out what to do with that crazy law. Our sinful flesh has two pendulum swings: (1) to trust the law to save us. (2) to blame the law for our sin.

The law is not the source of life. Sin uses the law to deceive us by convincing us that you and I can find worth and value and life through obeying God’s commands.